Joschka Fischer was German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor from 1998-2005, a term marked by Germany's strong support for NATO's intervention in Kosovo in 1999, followed by its opposition to the war in Iraq. Fischer entered electoral politics after participating in the anti-establishment protests of the 1960s and 1970s, and played a key role in founding Germany's Green Party, which he led for almost two decades.

Joschka Fischer fears Germany – like the rest of Europe – is on a path of “uncertainty – when Angela Merkel steps down after serving her fourth term in 2021. He foresees an overhaul of the party system that had ruled the post-war Germany, and raises question about the role it is going to play in Europe and across the globe. The coming days will determine who is going to succeed Merkel as leader of her party, and the direction Germany is headed, now that “the EU’s internal crises have not just continued but intensified.” The author says, “the ongoing transformation of Germany’s domestic and foreign-policy position is more important than a change in leadership,” which comes at a time when the world order that helped the post-war Germany thrive is on the verge of unravelling. The UK is leaving the EU, which has portrayed Germany’s economic strength and political constraints. America under Trump is no longer a reliable ally. For decades the US stands by Europe to face a resurgent Russia and a rising China.The Transatlantic relations help uphold the global system, and tackle the “chronic turmoil” in the Middle East and Africa, which “represents a persistent external risk to Europe’s stability.” Meanwhile, Germany has to shed its eurocentrism and focus on the world’s new “economic center of gravity, which is quickly “shifting from the North Atlantic to East Asia.” Its digital infrastructure needs an urgent upgrade to master the technology in big data, and artificial intelligence etc. The author points out the transformation of the political landscape from the post-war era to the post-reunification present. The “center-right CDU (in alliance with the Bavaria-based Christian Social Union) and the center-left Social Democratic Party have served as the two great guarantors of political continuity and stability” for decades. However, in recent elections the two mainstream parties have fallen out of favour with voters. In their stead are over a half dozen parties vying for electoral support. Since the reunification in 1990 Germany has a demographic problem that impedes a full integration. People in Eastern Germany underwent a painful adjustment economically and ideologically. The region is now the stronghold of the far-right. Although political parties and groups were banned in the former East Germany during the communist era, after reunification in 1990, the far right found fertile ground in the less developed east. Over the years, the eastern states struggled with losing a significant chunk of their workforce to internal migration to the west, while also adjusting to the new political and economic system.At the same time, the immigration that had supported in former West Germany's manufacturing industry started trickling into the eastern states. Dogged by a hard political and economic transition, public dissatisfaction morphed into resentment towards these newcomers. Whereas many urban parts of the former West Germany became more diverse in the 1970s and 1980s, the East was rather homogenous and remains largely so until today.Angela Merkel’s lacklustre performance in the 2017 election had – apart from the refugee crisis and other failures – also to do with voters’ weariness. After over a decade in power, people long for change. The first half of her leadership was teeming with optimism and German voters let their “Mutti” stay on. The author accuses Merkel of “consummate pragmatism, not offering “satisfactory answers” to questions. And “she has become her own worst enemy. Even when she has made great – indeed, historic – decisions, they have been based on narrow, short-term political considerations.” Perhaps history would be a better judge of her actions. Despite her flaws, failures and mistakes, she will be remembered for her humanity, and “peace dividend.” Or even for being “the last chancellor of the post-war (West) German party system. But Europe’s persistent crisis will now form part of her legacy as well, and it will pose a difficult challenge to her successors.”It is difficult to predict Europe’s future, even though most Europeans do support the European project. “Much will depend on whether Germany, together with France, continues to pursue its European mission”. The point is that, as long as voters can differentiate between people and institutions, it would be easier for them to separate wheat from chaff. When people make mistakes, it is not the institutions’ fault, although they bear the blame. If one generation of leaders has been bad, there is hope that the next one would be better and correct the mistakes. It is this cycle of human resources that had allowed the EU to survive for decades.

She is not out until she is totally and truly out! I would not discount her for a minute, especially after her hyper early retirement announcement. Regarding the French - German relationship, this is only likely to deteriorate, especially if Napolean IV (Macron) sticks to his guns and continue his tirade on people, businesses and countries and pursues his Grand Design EU Army that other European countries are meant to pay for but for it to be under French Command!

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PS OnPoint

The Mueller report in America, along with reports of interference in this week’s European Parliament election, has laid bare the lengths to which Russia will go to undermine Western democracies. But whether Westerners have fully awoken to the threat is an open question.

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